Tino's Normal House
by anacoana
Summary: Tino and his family move to a house Tino inherits from his uncle, and meet a bunch of weird but welcoming servants. They're not normal and it soon becomes clear the house isn't either! Can Tino survive the chaos that's unleashed when he finds out?
1. Chapter 1

Microsoft Word doesn't recognize git as a real word…that makes me sad. T.T

I don't own Hetalia. However, I virtually own America aru.

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"Wow…." Tino breathed, slumping in his seat, staring at the sight before him. Next to him his 26 year old husband Berwald squeezed his hand. The 24 year old's uncle had died a month ago, and at the reading of his will it had been discovered that he had left Tino his house, a huge wooden mansion with 68 acres of land; the place had been a former slave plantation. It had been given to a distant ancestor by a friend and passed down through the family ever since. The house itself was a mansion with three stories, a basement, and dozens of rooms. There was also a forest, fifteen acres of free land that was used as fields for the animals, and five or six little houses that were two stories apiece. And servants. Servants tied to the house and who lived in the houses, and who Tino owned as surely as he did the house itself, with no way of getting rid of either, short of torching one and killing the other.

Tino had thrown a fit at that, demanding to know how that _wasn't_ slavery or some form of it. The lawyer had then disclosed a very complex reason that went on for an hour and left the Fin's head spinning. All he understood of it was the lawyer's parting words, "Look, unless you want to kill them you're stuck with them, now get the fuck over it and shut the hell up." Charming Austrian wasn't he? So now Tino owned ten servants. _Ten! _What would he do with, how would he treat one servant, much less ten?

Gathering his courage Tino started his truck again and drove up the long driveway to the house, looking in the rearview mirror. The couple's adopted son Peter was looking around excitedly, silent for once, eyes wide. When he pulled up to the front and got out the door to the Victorian style home opened and a man his age came out. He was the same height as Tino and wore a green suit, was blond with massive eyebrows, and had green eyes and a surly look. Nervously Tino approached him, silently backed by Berwald. "Umm, hi, I'm Tino. I really don't know what to do but my uncle left me this place in his will…."

The surly look immediately vanished and the man gave a deep bow, one arm in front and one arm in back, smiling warmly at Tino as he rose. "It's alright lad, don't fret." He spoke with a thick British accent, Tino noticed with amusement. "I'm Arthur Kirkland, one of the servants here."

Tino shook his head and looked at the ground. "I, to tell you the truth I've never had servants before. I've never even _wanted _servants before, so I don't really know what to do or how to act."

Arthur smiled again, amusement clear in his vivid emerald eyes. "It's alright Master Tino, don't worry. You own us; you can treat us however you choose."

Tino shuddered at the thought, missing the fractional widening of Arthur's pleased smile. Owning people? That was horrendous, that was wrong. But he didn't have a choice. "Okay then, um, what exactly do you do here Arthur? This is Berwald and Peter by the way."

"Hi!"

The Brit smiled and nodded to Peter and Berwald before answering. "I run the house, and I'm also your butler and personal servant Master. Just come find me or yell for me if you need anything at all or have a question."

"Okay, and please don't call me Master. Just Tino is fine." Tino just stood there looking at the ground, utterly lost and bewildered. He was so out of his comfort zone and nervous even his natural cheerfulness and optimism had betrayed him.

Seeing that and smiling sympathetically Arthur tapped the underside of his chin lightly, making the Fin look up, idly noting a faint protective growl from the Swed behind him. "How about I take you on a tour of the house lad? Or would you like me to help you move things in?"

"T-tour please." Tino stuttered, a bit nervous about meeting the other servants but glad Arthur was taking the initiative for him. "Actually my brother's having a moving van bring my stuff tomorrow; all I have in my car is necessities for tonight and tomorrow morning."

The Brit nodded and opened the house door, letting Tino and his family in. Tino walked into an enormous entryway, with a large marble spiral staircase on the left a bit away, a big dining room straight ahead, and a hallway to the right. Tino just stood there, eyes wide. His four room apartment seemed like a grain of sand compared to this place. Failing to stifle a chuckle Arthur took his elbow. "This way Master Tino."

Arthur led him through hallways, showing him numerous rooms. There was a woodshop for Berwald, which Tino could tell the man was pleased about. The Swedish man was quite a skilled carpenter. One room looked to be a child's room, filled with toys, old and new that Arthur assured them were still capable of being played with. They had to drag 10 year old Peter out of that one. There were four libraries, one of them completely filled with nothing but fantasy, to the Finnish author's extreme delight. When he jumped up and down babbling about how happy he was and Arthur smiled happily, he could have sworn the room vibrated, as if filled with happiness itself. But that was preposterous. After all, it stopped as soon as Arthur kicked the wall, explaining to Tino that he had seen a spider.

%%%%

In one room Tino was looking at a beautiful painting of the sea when he heard, "Dad! Dad Dad Dad!" And a younger blond man in glasses came barreling into the room, pulling another boy with one hand and waving a piece of paper frantically with the other.

Tino's servant sighed in aggravation, yelping as the boy hugged him tightly. "Alfred you git, what're you doing here?"

"I got in!"

"Got into _where_ Alfred?"

"Stanford!" Alfred cried jubilantly, waving the paper around once more before shoving it into Arthur's hands. "They want me Iggy, Stanford wants me!"

"Don't call me that…" Arthur absentmindedly ordered, reading the letter.

Tino's eye was caught by the boy Alfred had dragged in with him. Like Alfred he looked to be in his late teens, but this boy was as short as he was, with a small frame and was Oriental in ethnicity. Feeling Tino's appraisal the teen looked to him and instantly paled, yelping, "Stranger!" and pulling Alfred in front of him.

The glasses clad boy looked behind him, then back to Tino, smiling and reaching out a hand. "Hey! I'm Alfred Freedom Jones; nice to meet ya! Are you the new owner? Don't mind Kiku by the way; he's just got a bit of a problem with strangers. It's okay Kiku, he isn't gonna hurt you."

As Arthur looked up from the paper to smile proudly at Alfred and the teen's grin widened, Tino nodded. "Yeah, I inherited this place from my uncle. These are Peter and Berwald. I don't own you too do I? I mean, are you a servant?"

Alfred laughed, brushing a bit of hair from his face. "Nah, I'm not a servant, but you do own me, since Arthur's my dad. I'm Arthur's kid; me and my twin brother Mattie were abandoned when we were four. Arthur was only seven then, but he found us and raised us in secret anyways. Like I said, I'm not a servant, but I run errands for Iggy. I dunno what I'm gonna do with my life-the hero's only 17-but I'll figure somethin' out. And look Dad, a full scholarship to college! I _told_ you football would pay off!"

"No you didn't, you got on your knees and begged me to let you join."

"Eh, same difference."

"Who's he?" Peter asked, pointing to the Asian boy, who looked at him distrustfully. Arthur immediately bit off his retort and turned to the ten year old, smoothly answering, "That's Kiku Wong Peter-"

"His middle name's Honda! Like the car!" Alfred cut in, earning a smack about the head. "Ow!"

"Shut up git! Kiku's the younger brother of one of the servants here, and has a bit of a stranger problem I'm afraid, so please don't go too close to him. Yao's an occasional cook, but mostly he manages the finances of the house and helps me clean a bit. He's been raising Kiku and their seven other siblings since Kiku was one and Yao was four. He's home right now, since two of his kids are sick. Would you like to meet him Mas-Tino?"

Tino looked to Berwald, and then, seeing his agreement, nodded. "Yes please."

"Are there any kids my age?" Peter asked excitedly and Arthur nodded. "Ai lad, there's Li Xiang, who's exactly the same age you are. He's solemn and borderline genius, but a nice little chap."

"Before we go there, I need to talk with you Arthur." Kiku spoke up and stepped out from behind Alfred, giving Tino and his family a wide berth to grab Arthur and yank him into a nearby room, shutting the door.

%%%%

As the remaining four stared at the door, Alfred was the first to speak. "You work pretty darn fast dontcha Master Tino?"

"Wh-what?" Tino asked, shocked, and the teen laughed.

"It's pretty obvious to anyone who knows him that Dad's instincts have full rein already. When we have an owner Dad's first instincts are to be completely loyal to 'em, along with trusting and protective. Usually it takes 'im at least a day to warm up to 'em though." Then the teen grew sober. "Listen, Dad's amazing. He's super loyal and he'll protect you with his life. But he's had a rough one. His older brothers work here and they're asses. They abused him somethin' horrible when he was younger, and they still do. So just do me a favor and look out for him will ya? They won't do anything with the owner around." Shocked, Tino nodded, and the teen grinned. "Thanks man. I owe ya one."

"I was getting to it!" The two heard snapped as Arthur strode out of the room, Kiku close behind him. As the Oriental teen scurried behind Alfred again, casting wary glares at Tino and Berwald, the Brit heaved a sigh and looked to the former, a hint of nervousness in his eyes. His head ducked a bit and Tino saw faint-but some not so faint-circular burn scars all over his neck, some disappearing below his shirt collar, an unspoken promise that there were more. The Fin sucked in a shocked, sympathetic breath. Was that what Alfred had been talking about? "Tino, do you have any problems with homosexuals?"

Taken aback by the suddenness and randomness of the question Tino blinked for a minute before answering. "No, of course not. I'm gay myself; this is my husband Berwald and our son Peter. Why?"

Looking relieved Arthur smiled slightly as the group started back towards the stairs. "In the original deed and then exchange of deed it was declared that anyone who worked here at the house had to be gay. That way if any women resided here at some point they could live here without fear of being harassed or taken advantage of."

"That's really considerate." Tino remarked, then suddenly stopped. "Oh…" He was looking out a huge glass window, and what he saw amazed him. He could see a yard, a shed, two of the five houses, a field with a few sheep and horses, with a forest beyond that. In Tino's eyes it was almost a fairytale place, and a world within itself. The 24 year old author could tell he'd be writing a lot of his stories in front of this window.

"We're practically self-sufficient here." Arthur remarked, breaking his thoughts. "Alfred gets things in town, but for the most part we don't need them."

"Can I go in the forest?" Peter asked, peering out the window with wide eyes.

Not answering Tino looked to Arthur instead, asking, "Is it safe there?"

The Brit gave a small smile. "Absolutely Tino. No harm will come to Peter in there, not even a scratch. I can promise you that."

Relieved and placated, Tino nodded. Berwald stayed silent, but he was puzzling over Arthur's words. "W'rd…" The Englishman seemed trustworthy and sounded honest, but he had said that with such confidence, like he knew something they didn't. What was he keeping from them?

"This place is amazing…" Tino breathed, once again looking out the window at the amazing view. Then he remembered something. "Hey…I…_own_ the servants, and you-" He pointed to Alfred. "Said I own you since you're Arthur's son. So how many people do I...are under my control?"

Smiling in amusement at Tino's turn of phrase Arthur thought before answering, "Nineteen. Ten servants, Yao's eight kids which includes Kiku, and my two, although Matthew's a servant."

"Mama, Dad!" Peter yelped, and Tino and Berwald immediately looked to the boy, Berwald scooping him up effortlessly.

"What's wrong?" Tino asked worriedly, standing on tiptoe to see Peter better. The young ten year old pointed to the light violet wall.

"I was looking at that plant with rocks around it, and the wall changed color! It turned blue!"

Tino looked at the wall, then chuckled. "It was probably a trick played by your eyes or the light coming off the rocks or something. Walls don't change color Peter."

Arthur chuckled as well, but to Berwald's ears it sounded just the teensiest bit forced. "Tino's right lad, it must have been something to do with your eyes. Walls don't change color."

The last sentence was a bit louder, another thing for Berwald to tuck away in his brain and silently wonder about.

%%%

"Oi! Artie!" A rough voice called from behind them and Arthur instantly tensed up, flinching and hunching his shoulders before turning around warily. "_What_?"

The man before them, taller than Arthur and therefore quite taller than Tino, with fiery red hair, arrogant and cruel emerald eyes and a cigarette, grinned with malice before dealing Arthur a quick but strong punch to the chest. "Is that any way to treat yer elders lad?"

Arthur glared at the ground, hands clenched tightly in fists, as another man came up. He too was older than Arthur, and had fair red hair with light green eyes. He was amiably followed by another, who was younger than the two but older than Arthur, with dirty blond hair and light green eyes. He smiled blissfully, his smile so wide his eyes were closed, at Tino and his family, and held up a sheep, declaring happily, "I have a sheep."

"_WE KNOW_!" The other three yelled and Arthur yelped as the smoking one hit him. "Ow!"

"Respect yer elders." The light red haired one ordered gruffly and Arthur glared.

"You two didn't! And he's my bloody brother too! Ack!" The smoking one had roughly grabbed Arthur's chin, yanking it up.

Taking his cigarette out and slowly twirling it-awful close to Arthur's skin Tino couldn't help noticing-the man blew smoke into before briskly ordering, "Yew shut the hell up ya wee brat. I'm sure there's _somewhere_ on your body I haven't scarred yet."

Lips curled Arthur spat through clenched teeth, "Haggot breath." As the other got ready to retaliate, fist clenched and cigarette raised, Tino stepped forward.

"Leave him alone!" The Fin ordered and Arthur's tormentor froze, looking up at Tino and studying him through narrowed, glaring eyes.

Taking a drag of his cigarette and maintaining his harsh grip on Arthur's face the older asked almost lazily, "Who the fuckin' hell are you?"

"Scott," Arthur spat, ripping himself free to stand in front of Tino protectively, "Meet Tino, the new lord of the manor. This is his family, Peter and Berwald. Tino, this is Scott and Lannie, and the one with the sheep is Wally. They're my brothers. Scott's the oldest, then Lannie, then Wally."

"Aye, Arthur's the wee sprite o' the family." Scott commented, taking a threatening step forward.

Seeing Arthur's hackles rise, his fists clench and his teeth bare in response to the insult Tino hurriedly intervened. "Well it was very nice meeting you all, but Arthur was right in the middle of giving us a tour!" Already knowing Arthur would follow Tino ran to and down the stairs. Those men-Arthur's brothers-scared the slim Finnish man quite a bit. They were big and brutal, and there was something about their eyes, especially Scott's, that made Tino think of feral animals.

When he caught up Arthur silently led the way to wherever Yao was, Alfred and Kiku at his heels and Berwald and Peter not far behind, leaving Tino to wonder if he had any normal servants at his new house.


	2. Chapter 2

NOTE: I borrowed the names Scott and Lannie from my two closest friends, though I'm staying as close to the canon Scott and Lannie as I can. Also, sorry Hikari; there's some Franada.

Lyn: Vietnam  
>Im Yong Soo: South Korea<br>Mongo: Mongolia  
>Buddha: Tibet<br>Li Xiang: Hong Kong  
>Thai: Thailand<br>Mei Mei: Taiwan

Also, the house, I needed to draw it out to keep the levels straight, so it goes like this:

Top floor(where they met Lannie, Scott, and Wally)  
>Main floor (where they came in)<br>Bottom floor  
>Basement<span>

%__%

"Thank you." Tino was startled by Arthur's abrupt break of the Brit's self-imposed silence, but nodded, making Arthur send him a grudgingly grateful smile. "For standing up for me against my brothers. The four of have never gotten along, but Wally at least is standable, most of the time. He's got a bad side to him too on occasion. Wally's a bit soft in the head and he carries that sheep bloody _everywhere_ but he's standable. The other two are absolute bloody _hell_."

Remembering how Alfred spoke of Arthur's abuse at the hands of his brothers Tino commented, "I think I'd like it if you could stay close to me; to help me get used to things here."

"Go'd id'a." Berwald agreed, squeezing Tino's hand lightly, no doubt remembering Alfred asking Tino to protect Arthur as well.

The Fin could almost see Arthur doing the same math he had. Arthur got abused by his siblings, but they wouldn't try anything in front of their owner. So if Arthur stuck to Tino's side he wouldn't be hurt. "Of course sir; anything to help. Here we are."

"Get ready for the chaos." Kiku murmured, making Alfred laugh. A short walk across the courtyard to a red and gold two story house that looked vaguely Oriental. Above the door hung a wooden sign that said in ornately swirled gold letter, We're All Mad Here. Seemingly out of habit Kiku tapped the sign as he opened the door. The rest of the group followed him inside and were immediately swarmed by kids, all jabbering and asking questions all at once. Kiku had to shout to be heard over all of them as he introduced them. "These are my younger brothers and sisters. Lyn, Im Yong Soo, Li Xiang, Thai, and Mei Mei. They're 15, 13, 10, 7, and 5. The 11 year olds Buddha and Mongo are sick in the other room. Where's gege?" He asked Li Xiang, a solemn looking boy with big eyebrows before explaining to Tino, "Gege means big brother in Chinese."

"Hi!" Peter cried before Li Xiang could answer. "I'm Peter! I'm 10, just like you! Arthur says you're a genius."

"That's because I am only 20 IQ points short of being one." The boy answered, looking at Peter curiously, and then turned to Kiku, taking his hand. "Who are they?"

"That's Tino; he's our new owners. The other two are his husband and son Berwald and Peter."

The boy nodded thoughtfully. "Gege's in his room." He informed Kiku, and pulled them down a hall to a room, pushing open the door and going in. "Gege!"

The man was bent over some drawers, and had a large tattoo of a cascading waterfall going right to left from his shoulder to his hip, large vividly red starflowers decorating the tattoo. Upon hearing Li Xiang the ebony haired man straightened and turned, smiling fondly at the boy and Kiku. Tino just stared. Along with the tattoo on his back Yao had an intricate red and gold dragon wrapped around his left arm from his shoulder to just above his wrist, an identical purple and blue one on his right arm. From just above his left nipple to the bottom right part of his stomach was a curved, open mouthed white tiger, revealing its fangs. A red triangle outlined in yellow with three smaller triangles that pointed downward and formed their own triangle were inside it, with a solitary red downward pointing triangle inside that was just above his right hip.

Yao-at least Tino assumed he was-smiled warmly at Tino. "Ni hao; I'm Yao aru. You're Tino, the new yeetwol, right aru?"

"Yeetwol means owner in Chinese." Arthur supplied and poor shocked Tino nodded.

"Y-yeah, I am. Why do you have so many tattoos?" He knew it wasn't polite, but it was all he was capable of thinking at the moment.

Yao looked down at himself. "Whoops! Sorry aru. I haven't had a chance to get dressed today, so I was when you came in aru."

As Yao slipped a red and gold tunic over his head Arthur smiled at the feminine man and answered Tino's question. "Our little mothering male here used to be part of the Chinese Triad."

Tino's stomach lurched and Yao smiled fondly, not a hint of killer about him. "Shi, I was the Heung Chu, or Incense Master aru. I was in charge of all the ceremonies aru. Second only to our great Shan Chu, the Mountain Lord himself, leader of the Triad, and equal only to the Deputy Master and the Vanguard aru."

Tino was frozen, eyes wide. The man before him, one of his servants, had been a member of the Chinese Triad, one of the five most powerful and feared gangs in the world? And he hadn't been just a member, but a high power officer, second only to the Dragon Lord, leader of the whole Triad?

The former Heung-Chu looked at him worriedly. "You okay aru? What's wrong?"

"It think he's in shock Yao." Arthur supplied, gently shaking Tino's shoulder. "You okay there Master?"

When Tino stayed silent Yao sighed sadly. "You might want to take him to meet the others aru. I'll see you later aru. I'm sorry for scaring you Master." His head drooped a bit, eyes sad and worried.

Gently, his grip more of a suggestion than control, Arthur steered away and out of the house, a worried Peter and extremely concerned Berwald behind him, the Brit casting a sympathetic smile back at Yao, Alfred and Kiku staying behind. Once they were outside Tino let out a breath and hugged himself, Berwald embracing him from behind as well, Tino leaning back on him, grateful for his husband's support. "Sorry." He apologized to Arthur before looking back to the ground. "That just, that really freaked me out. I've never met a gang member before, all the stories you hear of them killing and murdering, it's _scary_. I mean, he doesn't look threatening, but to know the stories of what people like him do…"

"He's nice." Peter piped up. "His tattoos are really cool."

Silently Tino looked down at his son, and then started towards the house, Arthur obediently at his heels. After a bit Tino felt capable of speech. "Is Yao, is Yao dangerous?"

"….Yes. Deadly." Tino's heart seized in his throat and he instinctively yanked Peter close to him. Seeing that Arthur hastened to elaborate. "But not to you. Never to you. Yao has a sense of unyielding, unfailing loyalty; being perfidious is a foreign concept to him. When he was forced to flee from the Triad he shifted the focus of his devotion to our owner, since he no longer had a Dragon Lord to be loyal to. Now, all that devotion, servitude, and loyalty is yours to do with what you will; he will never harm or betray you. You could beat him and be an absolute bloody monster to him, but since you're his owner he would never fight back or betray you. Instead the bloody idiot would stand up for you, no matter what you did to him. Yao is completely at your disposal, and he will never harm you or your family; Yao loves kids."

Tino relaxed at that and let go of Peter, nodding. The ten year old tugged on Arthur's sleeve. "Can Yao do ninja moves?"

The latter laughed heartily, ruffling Peter's hair. "Yao can do ninja moves that would knock your socks off lad. He dances too."

Peter wrinkled his nose. "Dance? Dancing's for girls."

The butler laughed again. "Not the kind of dancing Yao does lad." He opened the door to the house for Tino and his family, continuing once they were in. "When he was in the Triad Yao was the Dragon Lord's favorite out of all his underlings. The Dragon Lord treasured him, and loved to watch him dance. Yao would perform ancient Chinese dances, but with bladed fans, swords, or guns; sometimes all three. He would dance or be as if he were fighting someone, but he moves so gracefully it's hard to tell the two apart. You really should ask him to perform for you sometime; it's bloody amazing to see."

"Cool!" Peter cheered. "I wanna see him perform!"

"Once we're more settled in." Tino assured him before looking to Arthur. "Where to now?"

"The kitchen." Arthur declared, and began leading the group down a set of nearby stairs. "I hope you three like Italian and French food; our chefs are two Italian brothers and a frog. Although Yao cooks sometimes and the dishwasher-my son Matthew-makes breakfast."

"We're fine with anything." Tino assured him and the other two gave their agreement, Peter skipping down the stairs. Arthur nodded and got to the bottom, revealing multiple rooms, with the main focus obviously the kitchen, since it was straight ahead and the largest. There was a doorway and a half-wall that harsh yelling filtered over. Arthur stepped through the doorway quietly and Tino stopped, eyes wide at the…._interesting_ contrast before him.

The room was divided in half first of all. A wide, bright red strip of tape started at the ceiling of one wall, went down the wall, down the counter, across the floor, up the opposite wall, and stopped at the ceiling of that one. On the right side there was a peaceful, pleasant vibe, one blond man cooking while a younger one washed dishes. The older looked to be a few years older than Tino and Arthur, probably the same age as Berwald, his shoulder length wavy blond hair pulled back into a short ponytail with a blue ribbon. He hummed cheerfully as he cooked and fluidly grabbed one ingredient, then another, the counters shining they were so clean.

The boy washing dishes at the large sink had to be Matthew, for he was the same age as Alfred and looked almost exactly like him, though he had a shyer air about him and his hair was longer, the same length as the other man's. Next to the handles for the hot and cold water a…was that a-yes it was- a _polar bear cub_ sat, idly-almost boredly-smacking the upside down U-shaped faucet with its little paw.

The left side of the divided kitchen was a direct contrast. The two that Tino took to be the Italian brothers were there, food cooking but one of them yelling. The one yelling looked to be a tad older, the same age as Alfred and Kiku, with dark auburn hair and glaring green eyes. The slightly younger had light auburn hair and he looked at the ground sadly as the older yelled at him in angry Italian. Ingredients and pasta-limp and uncooked alike-were strewn all over the place and a lot of it was on the younger Italian, like it had been thrown at him. Arthur just sighed resignedly, like he was used to the scene. "Hey!"

The two blonds immediately looked over, the Italian brothers continuing for a moment, the older smacking the other a final time before they both turned their attention to Arthur. Even the polar bear looked over at them. "This is Tino, Berwald, and Peter." Arthur announced. "Tino is our new owner, and Romano, don't swear at him constantly. The old one let you but he might not, he's got a kid. Master Tino, this is my son Matthew, that disgusting frog is Francis-"

Francis stepped forward and gave a deep, flourishing bow, making Arthur step protectively in front of Tino. "Very nice to meet you, honhonhonhon…"

A growl was emitted from deep within Arthur's throat. "I swear frog, if you touch him I'll-"

"Now now Eyebrows, he is our owner, non? And by ze looks of it, he already has someone, non?"

The look he cast Tino was obviously lust-ridden, tracing his body. Shivering a little Tino very definitely took Berwald's hand, giving Francis a polite smile. In front of him Arthur snorted, arms crossed. "And since when has either fact stopped you?"

Francis clicked his tongue scoldingly. "True, but try to understand my dear-"

"I am not your dear!"

"-It is natural for me to adore everyone. I am from ze country of love after all."

"The country of rape is more like it."

Francis was about to retort but the boy Matthew slipped his hand into one of the Frenchman's, pleading softly, "Dad, Francis, please don't fight."

The older Italian snorted. "Matthew, that's like asking Francis not to fuck everything in sight."

The Frenchman in question gave Arthur a glare but relented, holding the younger's hand a bit less awkwardly now.

Matthew smiled happily and turned to Tino, holding out a hand and saying in a soft voice. "Hi, my name's Matthew. That's Kumajiro over on the sink."

"Ve~!" The Italian that had been getting scolded bounced over as Tino shook Matthew's hand. "I'm Feliciano Venezio Vargas, and I'm 19! That's my big brother Romano Lovino Vergas over there; he's 20! He yells at me and hits me a lot, but that's okay! You're our new boss now, aren't you happy? I'm happy you're here; it's been almost two and a half weeks since we were transferred to you and you hadn't come yet and bad things happen if the new owner hasn't come to the house in two and a half weeks!"

His head spinning at how rapid-fire that had been Tino latched on to the last bit of information as grounding. "What happens after two and a half weeks?"

"Oh that's easy! We-"

"Shut up Feli!" Romano ordered, stomping over and hitting Feliciano. "Mios Dios, what have I told you about keeping your mouth shut?" Not waiting for an answer he turned to Tino. "I'm Romano. Ignore my little fratello, there's something wrong with his head. Hey you stupid Brit! Have they met Antonio yet?"

"Ve~, or Ludwig?"

"No, they haven't met those two yet." Arthur answered, still not moving from in front of Tino. "I'll take him to meet those two next."

Romano harrumphed. "I'll come with you; God knows you won't find that idiot otherwise."

Feliciano's face split into a wide grin and he clapped his hands together happily. "Ve~, can I come too? Please? Please Roma? I promise I'll behave."

The older let out a weary sigh. "Oh _alright_, I suppose you can come. _Idiota_."

"Ve~!"

%_Japandigsmysexycatears_%

So the whole group went outside and around the back of the house, where there was a huge flourishing garden full of tomatoes-_lots _of tomatoes-and every other vegetable you could imagine, all at the pinnacle of freshness. However, the beautiful garden was empty. Romano heaved a sigh, curious curl bobbing, then screamed at the top of his lungs, "_Bastard!_"

"Si Romano?" A tall Spanish man stepped from around the corner of the house, beaming and wiping his hands on a rag, dirt on his white t-shirt and jeans. His grin widened even more and he tackled Romano, hugging him tightly and spinning around. "Hola Roma! Awww, did my little tomato miss me?"

The Italian's face instantly turned the same color as the tomatoes in the garden. "F-fuck no you retard! Our new owner's here and I, I thought I'd help him find you or something. I didn't miss you!"

"Awww, see Romano, you _do_ have a heart!"

"Shut up bastard! I have no soul!"

Peter laughed happily. "They're funny Mama!"

"They're somethin'." Tino readily agreed, watching the strange sight before him. No, he did not have any normal servants; that much was obvious. But for the most part they seemed friendly-one of them _too_ friendly, but Berwald was here and Arthur was too-so that was good.

"Sw'rin's n't good f'r Peter t' he'r." Berwald commented, and Arthur sighed.

"I know, I'll talk to Romano about it, but swear words make up most of the chap's vocabulary it seems. Oi! Antonio, put Romano down and pay attention." Pouting, Antonio snuggled and nuzzled Romano once more to the auburn's shouting, but obeyed, letting Arthur continue. "This is our new owner Tino, his husband Berwald, and their son Peter."

"Awww, a niño!" Antonio cheered, bending down to Peter's height. "Hola! I'm Antonio! I'm Spanish!"

"Hi!" Peter chirped. "You and Romano are funny together, even though he yells a lot. Are you and Romano like my Mama and Papa?"

Antonio tilted his head to one side. "Eh?...Oh! Sort of, your mama and papa are married; me and Roma aren't but we are in love!"

"No we're not! Shut the fuck up tomato bastard!"

"Doitsu!" Feliciano suddenly cried, and went running over to a man carrying lumber who was nearing them. "Doitsu Doitsu Doitsu!" Without even slowing down the younger Italian ran right into the man's chest, slowly wrapping his arms around the blond. "Doitsu~…."

The man heaved a heavy sigh. "Guten tag Feliciano." The auburn 19 year old scooted up so his legs were wrapped around the blonde's waist, the latter sighing again and raising his eyes to the sky, coming over to Arthur.

Tino gulped as he approached. He wasn't threatening as such, but he certainly was big, with many muscles that were revealed by the black tank top he wore above faded work jeans. The man set down the pile of lumber that had been balanced on his shoulder and nodded to Tino, looking to Arthur. "This is our new owner Tino." Arthur explained. "Feliciano, get off him. These are his husband Berwald, and his ten year old son Peter. Tino, this is Ludwig, our repair man. The idiot hugging Romano is our gardener, Antonio."

"Nice to meet you." Tino offered, smiling as he shook Ludwig's hand. The huge German gave his own greeting, and Arthur waved the group on.

%_Ihopeyoubothdiearu_%

That night after an amazing dinner cooked by the three chefs and the whole household-Yao's eight kids included-eating together and Peter put to bed, Tino and Berwald were upstairs in bed, drifting off to sleep. "…Berwald?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you think of the house so far?"

"It's go'd. Got fri'nds f'r Peter, w'rkpl'ce f'r me, an' libr'ries f'r you."

Tino chuckled, curled up in his husband's arms. "Yeah, I like it too. The people are so nice, along with everything you said This household is pretty interesting isn't it? I bet we won't ever be bored."

"Nope."

%%%  
>They certainly won't be bored in the next chapter! ^^<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

A few weeks passed, and Tino and his family had settled in nicely. It hadn't even been a month, and Tino already couldn't imagine living anywhere else. Peter was happy here, and had made two friends, Yao's kid Li Xiang and a trembling boy named Ravis, whom he dragged along on adventure after adventure. Since Li Xiang was a genius he could make even Peter's most ludicrous ideas happen, which is why they had gotten the three boys off of the roof five times already. Arthur had been extremely helpful, more often than not at Tino's side, and running the household smoothly.

Berwald agreed, but silently thought something strange was going on, or at least something that wasn't normal. The house seemed….different from their old one somehow. And once or twice, unbeknownst to Arthur, the Swed had seen the British man talking quietly to himself, but spoke as if there was someone else there with him. Peter and his two new friends had been in the forest several times, and true to what Arthur had said, none of them had so much as a scratch to show for it. And Berwald _knew_ that wasn't normal. No ten year old went anywhere without getting curious and at the very least a scratch or bruise to show their curiosity with.

One night, two weeks into living in his new house, Tino got out of bed sleepily. He could have _sworn _he heard…music notes, of all things. Who played music this late at night? It was pretty music, some notes upbeat, others slower, with a rhythm that almost sounded like the ups and downs of speech if he tuned his ears right.

But who would be playing the piano? Only Yao and Arthur were still here, Yao finishing up work-even though it was now 11:00 at night-and Arthur had said he needed to finish a few last minute things. Tino hadn't asked, instead just nodding. He trusted Arthur a lot by now, enough not to question any strange things he did. But neither of them were musicians.

In fact, Tino had heard the piano playing a few days ago during dinner, but Arthur had just yelled "_Shut up_!" and it stopped immediately. None of the servants would answer Tino's question as to who it was, and honestly, that befuddled the Fin. The nineteen new friends he had made took his ownership of them pretty seriously, teaching, explaining, or doing anything he wished, and that was the first thing they had closed up on him about. Yao had sent him a sympathetic and apologetic smile-Tino had gotten to know the Oriental man better and he was actually really nice, proud, but docile for the most part-but had refused to explain.

Well, he was going to find out now. So deciding Tino padded down the hallway in his red and green pajamas to the piano room, where the music was coming from. Slowly pushing open the door Tino saw a big, beautiful room, empty except for a grand piano on a raised part. Beautiful music was still playing, but Tino's breath caught in his throat as he switched on the light and saw that his initial thought hadn't been a trick of the light.

There was no one in the room but him. And the piano was still playing.

Choking down hysteria Tino slowly approached the piano, hoping and praying that he was seeing wrong. But no; he could see the keys, pressing down all by themselves, no one sitting on the piano seat. Taking deep breaths Tino finally screamed, hysteria cracking his voice, "_Berwald! Arthur!_"

When Berwald flung open the door, Arthur close behind, the large man saw his beloved wife standing next to the piano, hugging himself and taking huge gasping breaths. Berwald quickly scooped up the hyperventilating man, hugging him close. The Fin clung to him, burrowing his face into the other's chest as Arthur sunk down onto the floor next to him, rubbing soothing circles on his back. As the 24 year old's breathing began to slow Arthur fetched a chair and Berwald gently placed Tino in it, still maintaining contact with his wife.

Arthur came back, bending down worriedly to look Tino in the face as the Fin finally looked calm enough to talk. "What happened Master? You look bloody pale lad. Did you see a spirit?"

"Just Tino please." Tino corrected on reflex-Arthur was trying but still couldn't get the hang of addressing him informally-before shaking his head. "No, no not a ghost. At least I don't think it was. I heard piano music and came in here to see who was playing. But there, there's no one here!"

Berwald looked at Tino, shocked, then looked up at Arthur with wide eyes as Arthur made a noise that was half growl, half aggravated sigh and stood up, barking, "House!" Quiet, nervous music filled the air and the couple watched as Arthur scoffed. "Oh don't give me that! I told you _specifically_ not to make a sound until I said so! You already disobeyed once and you are so lucky Yao stepped in then! What is so bloody hard about staying quiet?"

Whining music, like a misbehaving child trying to explain and Arthur let out a harsh laugh. But before he could continue yelling Tino heard, "What's all the yelling about aru? I could hear you from in the kitchen aru!" Instantly the music got even more pathetic, and it seemed like all the objects in the room moved closer to the feminine Chinese man. Yao listened for a moment, and then turned to Arthur, aghast. "Arthur!"

The Brit huffed and crossed his arms, glaring at the piano. "Bloody tattle tale…"

Yao maintained his glare. "Don't yell at the house aru! It can't help it that it was excited!"

"It was one simple order! Act like a normal house for once in its bloody life! How hard is that?" Arthur sighed in exasperation as Yao ran a loving hand over a table that seemed to arch into his touch as the Oriental man cooed soothing words. "Yao, Yao don't _mother _the bloody thing! It disobeyed!"

The Chinese man glared scoldingly at Arthur. "Arthur, the house is a cross between a five year old and a puppy aru. You can't ask it to always behave aru."

"I'm not expecting it to behave all the time! I'm asking it to behave _once_! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to comfort our _traumatized owner_!" Snarling a bit in anger Arthur spun on his heel and began to stalk over to the astounded Tino and Berwald, his steps and body softening as he approached, until he seemed to Tino as kindly as he always did. In one fluid movement Arthur knelt, looking up at the shocked Fin with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry lad. We didn't mean for you to find out this way. How are you feeling?"

"A, a bit better." Tino managed, and that was slightly true. "Wh-what's going on? What the hell just happened?"

Arthur let out a regretful sigh and bit his lip before answering. "This house, this house isn't normal lad. It's….well, it's magic."

Tino blinked, stunned. He was a fantasy author, and devoured fantasy books like no tomorrow, but reading about magic was a bit different from actually encountering it. "M-magic?"

His servant nodded, deadly serious. "Magic. The house has a personality all its own, a cross between a puppy and a five year old, like Yao said."

The house-for that was all it could be-played the piano and Yao sighed, petting the walls comfortingly. "Oh I know, I know, but you know Arthur, he just doesn't want anything bad to happen." A few more notes and Yao laughed. "Shi, shi, sometimes it's like I'm the good parent, Arthur's the bad parent and you're our kid, right aru?"

Even through his shock Tino couldn't help noticing the blush on Arthur's face and the wistful look he sent Yao before looking back to Tino. "We don't know how it's magic-" He snorted and raised his eyes to the ceiling. "I _built_ the bloody place and I don't know how it happened!"

Tino's eyebrows wrinkled at that. "But, but this house has been in my family for generations. How old are you?"

"24 and not a day older Master."

"How…._long_ have you been 24?" Tino asked warily, not sure he wanted to know. "When were you born?"

Smiling kindly Arthur laid a comforting hand on Tino's knee. "Think the Charles Dickens era lad."

The Fin froze and his blood ran cold. _Arthur was born in the 17__th__ century!_ Taking a few deep breaths-that didn't calm him one bit-Tino managed, "I, I need some time I think." So saying he grabbed Berwald, got Peter, and left, telling Berwald to go somewhere, anywhere.

His faithful husband drove to a hotel, and once they were checked in and Peter was asleep in a bed Tino collapsed in a chair, head in his hands. "My house….my house is magic….at least one of my servants has gotta be ageless or immortal or _something_….oh god, what have I gotten us into?"

Berwald sat on the bed next to the chair and rubbed Tino's back soothingly. "Th'y c'n't be too b'd. Y'r uncle tr'sted 'em w'th you."

"Ye-yeah but, god Berwald, this is so, this is so _wrong_ and so _weird_, I don't know what to _do_!"

%%%%%

Arthur stared forlornly at the closed door. He had followed his owner down the stairs, desperately trying to say something, _anything_ to keep the slight Fin and his family in the house. But they were gone now, and Yao had gone up to the attic, where he always went when he and/or the house was depressed. And now Arthur was standing here, staring at the front door to the house that his master had closed in his confused, scared flight from him, the house, and all the others. What would he do now?

Sad, apologetic, tinkling notes, desperation evident in them, echoed through the house that suddenly felt a whole lot emptier. A house needed an owner, a servant needed an owner, and theirs was gone. Arthur heaved a hopeless sigh and sunk down to the floor, sliding down the wall. "Well house, it looks like we scared away this one as well."


	4. Chapter 4

_**HAPPY BIRTHDAY HIKARI!**_

That is all

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The next three days crept by for the dismal residents of the magic house. Francis, Romano, and Feliciano cooked, but the food wasn't as good as it usually was. Arthur would start cleaning, but then find himself wondering why, and giving up. Yao would start working, and then lose the motivation to. The house was depressed as well, wallowing in self-pity and playing melancholy notes that echoed forlornly in the empty house. A house needed an owner. That was what it _existed _for. Servants needed an owner. They _existed_ to serve, especially the ones in this house.

%%%%%

Romano growled halfheartedly down in the kitchen, thumping his head on the counter. _Nothing_ was turning out right! Either the food was burned, undercooked, or missing an ingredient! What the fuckin' hell? He growled again, banging a fist on the table, and Feliciano looked at him worriedly. "Ve~, fratello, what's wrong?" Even the normally cheery Italian was a bit down.

"Look at us!' His older brother snapped, full of venom, making the younger flinch back. "We're all fuckin' depressed because we don't have an owner! An _owner_! Since when do we need someone to tell us what to do that badly? Damn it, I _hate _being dependent on people! N-not that I am!"

"Ve~…." Feliciano patted his fratellone's back, trying to comfort, even though he knew that if Romano wasn't as depressed as he was the younger Italian would be missing an arm by now. "We're bound to the house Roma….we feel what it feels. Plus, we've been servants here since the 1800s. We _need_ an owner…."

"I don't need anyone damn it!"

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The United Kingdom brothers-minus that little snot Arthur-sat in the stable where Wally's sheep were-the youngest of the three present was the shepherd as well. All three of them were smoking, empty cigarette containers littering the ground beneath their feet. The three had been sitting out here for some time; not even torturing their little brother seemed enjoyable, which was a bit frightening for them. All of the brothers were deep in brooding thoughts, until finally Lannie spoke. "Ya don't suppose this counts as a two and a half week period do ya? The wee lad wasn't here for too long, an' he barely made it when he first came."

Scott shrugged, smoking two cigarettes at once. Taking them out he let out a puff of smoke before answering. "How'm I supposed to know? This house is a weird one."

"I think it's normal." Wally commented, hugging his sheep before announcing blissfully, "I have a sheep."

"We know…." The other two said tiredly, and Scott sighed, taking another drag of his cigarette, waving it at Wally. "Look at ye. Yer two bubbles're so far off the centre ye don't even know when to be sad."

"Do too…" Wally insisted morosely. "I just hide it…."

The elder two stared at him for a moment before sighing and going back to smoking, the younger copying them.

%%%%%

Arthur sighed, looking around the house, absent mindedly patting the wall as the house gave a few sad, high notes, its version of a whimper. He had built the house back in 1724, so he was the only one who knew what it was saying when it played music. Although Yao did too, since the man adored kids and got along with them, and when you got right down to it, the house was basically a kid. The Brit felt his cheeks heat up faintly at the thought of the raven, then sighed, depressed once again at the emptiness of the house.

Putting the dust cloth down the masterless servant-and god did that phrase hurt his heart as he thought it-trudged up the stairs, suddenly needing comfort, and knowing where he could get it. He climbed stair after stair, eventually reaching the top floor. A soft uttering-almost pleading- of the word, "House…" made an unseen door in the wall swung open, revealing a hidden staircase. The Brit climbed it, the house closing the entrance to the secret passage behind him. Climbing the dusty, wooden staircase brought Arthur to an equally dusty, old attic, lit by a single window.

The room was mostly bare, but had actually been a room for a mentally ill child of a past owner, who wanted to keep the poor lad out of sight and out of mind. The past owner had been so ashamed of his son he snuck him inside the house with only Arthur knowing; as far as the others knew the son had never existed. Now it was a small attic, hidden away from the world. In the far corner Yao sat dully on an old wooden table, swinging his feet idly and looking the picture of depression, even though the golden sunlight made his glossy raven hair shine even more. The furniture was crowded close around him for comfort, though not too close, since Arthur had explained personal space to the house years ago. Watching the Chinese man sit there, head bent, legs slowly swinging, shoulders slumped in depression, the Brit sighed in sympathy.

Suddenly Arthur felt like a young child who had crawled into his parents' bed late at night, desperately seeking comfort. Walking over, and then wading through the furniture, Arthur collapsed with a sigh, cross legged on the floor, next to Yao's legs, which stopped swinging. "What am I going to do Yao?" The head servant muttered, resting the side of his head on the side of Yao's leg, cheeks dusted with pink.

"Why do you think you have to do something aru?" The Chinese man murmured, soothingly running a hand through Arthur's messy hair. The attic's atmosphere was one that almost demanded silence and reverence, so the two always spoke softly here. They were the only two who knew of this place; the house loved them all, but everyone knew Yao and Arthur were its favorites.

Cheeks darker now, Arthur sighed, letting himself for a moment revel in the temporary affection Yao was bestowing upon him. "Well I'm the head servant, and our owner just, just _left_ us Yao. Abandoned us."

"He got scared aru." Yao pointed out. "You've lived here since 1724, and I've lived here since 1886. We've _forgotten_ that this house isn't normal, that magic doesn't exist for most people." A whine of sadness was emitted from the walls and Yao patted the nearest one soothingly. "It's okay, it's okay aru." The words and most of the feelings were there, but Arthur saw in the proud man's eyes that he needed someone to say that to _him_. "We know you're real, we believe in you aru. We all love you house, don't worry."

"But what if he leaves?" Arthur whispered, admitting his worst fear and the one tied for it right after. "Or doesn't come back in two and a half weeks? What then?"

Yao looked down at the older-but so, so much younger sometimes-Brit with a sad soft smile. "Well then we'll just see won't we aru? But don't worry, Master Tino seems nice; I'm sure he won't abandon us aru. And why are you so concerned about the two and a half weeks thing aru?"

"Because we'll _die_!" Arthur cried out in as loud a voice as he dared in this place. "If our master doesn't come to the house within two and a half weeks we die, we and the house crumbles away! You know that!"

"But that's only when we first get transferred to a new master." Yao said soothingly, stroking Arthur's hair in an effort to calm him down. "Once he comes and we and the house know him, he can come and go as he pleases without us dying."

"But what if there's something we don't know?" Arthur asked worriedly, succumbing a bit to the soothing strokes. "The only reason we found out about the two and a half weeks thing is because the house began falling apart at two weeks and four days one time. Even the house doesn't fully know what goes on or what dictates the rules or what initiated the rule we do know! What if there's something else we don't know?"

"If we don't know it, then there's nothing we can do about it aru." Yao commented reasonably, and Arthur let out a tired sigh. "I, I suppose…..but Yao…..where _is_ he?"

"….I don't know aru. I wish I did though; I'm worried about him, he's a nice kid aru. I hope he comes back soon…we _need_ him." Letting go of his pride for once the Chinese man leaned down and buried his face in Arthur's messy hair, worried sick about their new, kind, fragile looking owner and his family. Arthur hesitantly reached up an arm to hug the other awkwardly and stroked his hair for comfort. Around the two dust drifted lazily through the air, made golden by the sun as the house let out another long, forlorn whine of longing.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry for the wait everyone, Hikari and I were in Quirk's Players (the drama club at our school) and we practically lived there, but it was completely worth it. Enjoy!

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Tino sat in his truck and sighed heavily. His car was parked in front of the entrance to the mansion he had been left by his uncle, and Tino had left it a week ago out of shock, fright, and confusion. His house was magic. His house was freakin' _magic_. It apparently talked through the piano, at least one of the servants was ageless or immortal or _something_ and god only knew what else went on at the house due to the magic; he hadn't stayed to find out. But now he was back, he was back and he was going to stay.

Berwald had pointed out that the servants had never hurt him and the house had never seemed malevolent, instead welcoming and happy. Peter had begged for their family to go back, missing Li Xiang and the other kids, as well as the servants, who doted on him like no tomorrow, especially Yao.

For his part, Tino had been freaked out; scared at the idea of living in a house that was alive itself. But once his head had cleared the Fin remembered how the house had been apologetic when he found out, trying to be nice. And soon, his life felt empty, the third day in a row he woke up to realize that he was in a hotel room, with only part of his family with him. He had only lived there for two weeks, but in that short time the servants he had unwillingly gotten and then the friends he made became dear to him, even if it was annoying sometimes that they did whatever he said and took his ownage of them quite seriously. He needed them again, and he needed to go back. So here he was, four o'clock in the afternoon, ready to go back. He was pretty sure. Yes. Yes, he was.

'_Okay…_' The Fin encouraged himself. '_You can do this. It's just a house. A magic house, but it never hurt you or the others before. It's okay. Let's go. Start the car up….start the car up…..start the car up!'_ Finally he did, driving up the driveway and parking. Getting out, Berwald and Peter copying him. Taking a deep breath Tino slipped his hand into Berwald's, the giant smiling down at him comfortingly. Smiling back the Fin heeded Peter's impatient urgings to hurry up with a laugh. He neared the house, braver now that he was holding Berwald's hand, and opened the door, shocked by what he was met by. All the lights were on and ecstatic music was playing so loud Tino couldn't hear his own thoughts, and the whole house was vibrating, as if with excitement. Furniture moved toward him and a happy humming, almost like a purr, filled the air. Shocked Tino took a step back, eyes wide.

"Stop that!" A harsh British voice yelled and Arthur came hurrying down the stairs, glaring at the house. "Stop that you bloody house, you're scaring him!"

The furniture obediently moved back, and the vibration and music lessened, though the music was still playing a bit loud and the soles of Tino's feet were vibrating pleasantly. The hum subsided as well, though barely, and Arthur smiled apologetically at Tino as he approached. "I'm sorry Master; the house is just excited you're back. It was terrified you wouldn't come back, that you would abandon us. We…we all were." The man Tino's age admitted, looking down sheepishly. "But we're all so, so glad you're back Master. We are."

Tino smiled and hugged Arthur, much to the other's surprise. "I am too. It just felt wrong to be away once my head cleared."

Arthur smiled kindly at Tino as the Fin let go, looking utterly grateful at-almost saved by-the fact that Tino was back. "A master left us a long time ago, too scared to deal with the house and us. We thought we were abandoned again."

Shaking his head Tino smiled slightly. "No I, I wouldn't do that. Just…"He sighed heavily. "Just explain. Everything. The house, all of you…just explain. _Please_."

Immediately Arthur nodded. "Of course Master Tino. Do you want me to get the others as well?"

"Yes, please." Tino nodded, not sure if he was ready to learn more about this strange place, but knowing he had to.

%%%%%

Fifteen minutes later the full house was gathered in the biggest living room. Tino watched as they all settled down, regarding the people he had thought he knew so much about. Yao Wong and Kiku Wong, brothers seven years apart, who had fled with the rest of their family here to America from China, leaving the Chinese Triad for reasons Tino had never been brave enough to press for. Francis and Matthew, the latter Arthur's adopted son and the former Arthur's frenemy-Francis had added "with benefits" when the Brit hadn't been in earshot, making Tino blush heavily-who were in a relationship, despite their obvious age difference. Tino didn't care though; as long as they were happy, that was all that mattered, right?

Then there were Feliciano and Romano Vargas, brothers separated by just a year, Romano always screaming at Feliciano, but if you read in between the lines of his swear words, he cared for the younger and tried to take care of them. Then there was Ludwig Beilschmidt, Feliciano's boyfriend who always looked awkward and unsure when he hugged Feliciano, but obviously cared about him more than anything. Cuddling up to Romano like usual was his boyfriend Antonio Carrandiaz, who loved the brutal Italian even though the younger kicked and swore and punched him constantly.

Scott, Lannie, and Wally came in last, Arthur quickly striding over to be closer to Tino. For the umpteenth time Tino regretted leaving the house, noticing that Arthur had fresh bruises and scars. His older brothers had backed off substantially when Tino had been there, but it seemed their cruelty had been revived in his absence. Except Wally of course. Wally had followed Tino around for two days, trying to puzzle out who he was, until Arthur slowly and repetitively explained to the older that Tino was their master. Immediately afterwards Wally had adored Tino almost as much as he did Arthur, and Tino liked the mentally challenged elder. He was sweet and always nice, eager to help, and a child really, a child that absolutely adored his younger brother Arthur.

Once everyone was in and Tino had been hugged by Feliciano, given a relieved sounding yell of, "It's about time bastard!" by Romano, hugged by Antonio, squeezed near to death by Wally, and hugged by Yao, the Chinese man letting out a quiet but heartfelt sigh of relief, Tino looked to Arthur. He wanted to know things, but didn't know where to start or how to ask.

The Brit in charge of his house sighed heavily. "How about we start at the beginning?" When Tino nodded, Arthur began.

%%%%

"This house was built in 1654 by my original master. I helped build this place, planning the layout, overseeing the work, and building it with my own two hands. Only my brothers and myself worked for my master, but soon the place was built. Two months later we realized that something was weird about the house. It seemed to be alive, and, well, being itself, as you've seen. To this day we have no bloody idea why it's magic. My family is quite superstitious, and we've gone through everything and every theory we can imagine trying to understand it, but we can't.

That frog Francis came five years later. We started noticing that we didn't seem to age, never even got sick once we signed the contract to be servants at the house. I could understand the house the instant it started talking to us-scared the bloody hell out of us, let me tell you- and…Master Tino, we're ageless. Immortal. None of us will ever age even an hour. Apparently as far as the house can figure it's a way of keeping the secret of its magic from spreading too much to too many people. Then Romano and Feliciano came, then Francis met Antonio and he began working here, then Ludwig came. Yao and Kiku are our most recent additions, and they've been here since 1886."

Tino took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I, I see. You all…you never age?"

"No." Kiku answered from Alfred's arms. "Never. Years go by, but we never physically age. Or mentally as far as we can tell. Mei Mei's been five for the past 126 years."

"That's cool!" Peter cried excitedly, jumping up and down. "I'd love to be immortal! That'd be awesome! Wait-" he stopped for a second and turned to Arthur. "Can the house understand us?"

Piano notes filled the house and Arthur smiled at the ten year old. "Yes, the house can understand us clear as day, though only Yao and myself can understand what the house is saying with the music notes."

Peter tilted his head curiously. "How come only you guys can?"

"Because we're the house's favorites aru." Yao explained. "It communicates with us through the piano, and only Arthur and I can understand what it actually means. The others have to depend on us for translation aru. Although it has a fondness for Romano as well aru." The Chinese man added, smirking.

Romano scoffed, glaring at Yao "Like hell it does. Fuckin' house….it's always messing with me!" He saw Tino raise an eyebrow and shook his head. "You'll see. Believe me, you'll damn well see. Now that you know, the house is free to act like it usually does, which is like a fuckin' retarded five year old."

"Be nice.' Yao scolded gently. "The house is just the house; it can't help the way it acts. And can you imagine it any other way?"

Romano just huffed and looked away, half-heartedly kicking the table, which made the house emit what almost sounded like a whine in protest. Arthur let out a sigh. "If you two start again, I don't want to hear it. Cut it out."

"Now now cher…" Francis purred, leering at Arthur. "Zey are just being children…" His hand started to move closer to Arthur and the Brit watched it apprehensively, when suddenly a hole in the floor opened up and Francis dropped through, a thump coming from the hole a few seconds later.

Aghast and shocked Tino looked to Arthur, who was smirking smugly. Seeing Tino's expression, the Brit laughed. "Don't worry; he just got dropped into the basement. The house does that every time the frog tries to molest me. He never seems to learn. Peter lad, you might want to get away from there."

"Yeah, Peter, get away from the hole, it's dangerous." Tino instructed, and Peter got off the floor, from where he had been peering down into the hole. As soon as he was far enough away the floor closed up, and it was like the hole had never been there. Tino wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not, but there seemed to be a certain feel of smugness in the air.

"He'll come back up once he regains consciousness." Arthur assured Tino, who was still a bit worried for Francis. "Alright." The Brit said decisively, standing up. "Now that Master Tino's back we have to get things back to normal. Are you hungry Tino?"

"I am!" Peter cried, jumping up and down, making Arthur laugh as Tino nodded.

"Alright then, Romano, Feliciano, frog, Matthew, do you mind making dinner?" The four hurried off, Feliciano skipping gaily, and Tino smiled, excusing himself to go to his room so he could think. Though it pained him to, he even urged Berwald away, telling him to go find Li Xiang with Peter. It felt weird without Berwald at his side, but the slight Fin needed to think.

%%%%

As he walked through the house and climbed the stairs the Fin was aware of a gentle hum throughout the house, and when he stepped onto the landing of the top floor, the carpet moved, making him jump. When he stopped gasping for breath the carpet moved over to Tino, rubbing against him like a cat would, the hum getting louder. Tino managed a weak chuckle, staring down at the carpet rubbing against his leg, and tentatively patted the wall. "I, I guess you missed me, huh?"

The hum got louder and tinkling piano notes filled the air, joyful sounding. Tino gave another nervous laugh. "Yeah, I guess you did." Going to his room Tino plopped down on the bed, sighing heavily as he looked around the room. Slowly, gently, as if trying not to scare Tino, the comforter on the bed moved, wrapping around him tenderly, like the house was testing the waters, and somehow Tino understood that the house was trying to give him a hug, and was desperately trying to see if Tino gave his approval and acceptance of it.

Smiling softly Tino understood. The house was just a child, a scared child at the moment, like Peter when he was six and always running into Tino and Berwald's room if there was a strange noise or a thunderstorm. Obviously the house-though it was hundreds of years old-had never gotten past the "child" phase, and like a child, it never meant to seriously scare anyone, especially Tino. When the blanket moved away, the house scared by his lack of response, Tino pet it soothingly, making it halt. "It's okay." He admitted, smiling softly. "It's like Arthur said, you're just you. And I still need to get used to that, you understand right?" A tentative reply in the form of almost hopeful sounding piano notes, and Tino giggled. "But I'm okay with it. You're okay. It's strange, and this has never happened to me before, but I'm okay with it. Really."

The hum that reverberated through the house instantly shot up in volume, so much so that Tino was borderline vibrating from it, and ecstatic music filled the house again. "_House_!" Tino heard Arthur scream, and Tino laughed a bit as the house reluctantly lowered the volume of its happiness.

"It's okay Arthur!" Tino yelled, hoping Arthur could hear him. "I'm okay with it now!"

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>Review s'il vous plas?<p> 


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